Mershon to sign copies of Columbia River Highway book

Local author and historian Clarence Mershon will sign his latest book, 'The Columbia River Highway from the Sea to the Wheat Fields of Eastern Oregon,' at Troutdale City Hall, 104 S.E. Kibling St. at 2 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 20. The Troutdale Historical Society event, which will include the second part of Mershon's 2007 slide show on the highway's construction, is free and open to the public.

Mershon's book recounts the trials and tribulations in building the historic highway, which linked Portland with eastern Oregon for decades before Interstate 84 was constructed in the 1950s and '60s. The book contains dozens of photographs from before, during and after the highway's construction, in which Mershon's grandparents participated.

Troutdale Historical Society presents monthly history programs to stimulate interest in and knowledge of the area's past.